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Changed: Update information regarding Google Play in README
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fornwall committed Jun 15, 2024
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Expand Up @@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ The core [Termux](https://github.com/termux/termux-app) app comes with the follo

Latest version is `v0.118.0`.

**NOTICE: It is highly recommended that you update to `v0.118.0` or higher ASAP for various bug fixes, including a critical world-readable vulnerability reported [here](https://termux.github.io/general/2022/02/15/termux-apps-vulnerability-disclosures.html). Also reminding [again](https://www.reddit.com/r/termux/comments/pkujfa/important_deprecation_notice_for_google_play) to users who have installed termux apps from google playstore that playstore builds are [deprecated](#google-play-store-deprecated) and no longer supported. It is recommended that you shift to F-Droid or GitHub releases.**
**NOTICE: It is highly recommended that you update to `v0.118.0` or higher ASAP for various bug fixes, including a critical world-readable vulnerability reported [here](https://termux.github.io/general/2022/02/15/termux-apps-vulnerability-disclosures.html). See [below](#google-play-store-experimental-branch) for information regarding Termux on Google Play.**

Termux can be obtained through various sources listed below for **only** Android `>= 7` with full support for apps and packages.

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</details>

### Google Play Store **(Deprecated)**
### Google Play Store **(Experimental branch)**

**Termux and its plugins are no longer updated on [Google Play Store](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.termux) due to [android 10 issues](https://github.com/termux/termux-packages/wiki/Termux-and-Android-10) and have been deprecated.** The last version released for Android `>= 7` was `v0.101`. **It is highly recommended to not install Termux apps from Play Store any more.**

**Termux developers do not have access to Play Store Console account where Termux is published and therefore can't remove the app.** You are encouraged to move to `F-Droid` or `GitHub` builds as soon as possible and suggest doing so for other users via social media.

You **will not need to buy plugins again** if you bought them on Play Store. All plugins are free on `F-Droid` and `GitHub`.

You can backup all your data under `$HOME/` and `$PREFIX/` before changing installation source, and then restore it afterwards, by following instructions at [Backing up Termux](https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Backing_up_Termux) before the uninstallation.

There is currently no work being done to solve android `10` issues and *working* updates will not be resumed on Google Play Store any time soon. We will continue targeting sdk `28` for now. So there is not much point in staying on Play Store builds and waiting for updates to be resumed. If for some reason you don't want to move to `F-Droid` or `GitHub` sources for now, then at least check [Package Management](https://github.com/termux/termux-packages/wiki/Package-Management) to **change your mirror**, otherwise, you will get **`repository is under maintenance or down`** errors when running `apt` or `pkg` commands. After that, it is also **highly advisable** to run `pkg upgrade` command to update all packages to the latest available versions, or at least update `termux-tools` package with `pkg install termux-tools` command.

Note that by upgrading old packages to latest versions, like that of `python` may break your setups/scripts since they may not be compatible anymore. Moreover, you will not be able to downgrade the package versions since termux repos only keep the latest version and you will have to manually rebuild the old versions of the packages if required as per [Building packages](https://github.com/termux/termux-packages/wiki/Building-packages).

If you plan on staying on Play Store sources in future as well, then you may want to **disable automatic updates in Play Store** for Termux apps, since if and when updates to disable Termux apps are released, then **you will not be able to downgrade** and **will be forced** to move since apps won't work anymore. Only a way to backup `termux-app` data may be provided. The `termux-tools` [version `>= 0.135`](https://github.com/termux/termux-packages/pull/7493) will also show a banner at the top of the terminal saying `You are likely using a very old version of Termux, probably installed from the Google Play Store.`, you can remove it by running `rm -f /data/data/com.termux/files/usr/etc/motd-playstore` and restarting the app.

#### Why Disable?

<details>
<summary></summary>

- Play store apps have multiple critical vulnerabilities as reported at https://termux.github.io/general/2022/02/15/termux-apps-vulnerability-disclosures.html and since they cannot be updated with fixes, any users using older versions would be vulnerable.

- They should be disabled because deprecated things get removed and are not supported after some time, its the standard practice. It has been many months now since deprecation was announced and updates have not been released on Play Store since after `29 September 2020`.

- The new versions have lots of **new features and fixes** which you can mostly check out in the Changelog of [`GitHub Releases`](https://github.com/termux/termux-app/releases) that you may be missing out. Extra detail is usually provided in [commit messages](https://github.com/termux/termux-app/commits/master).

- Users on old versions are quite often reporting issues in multiple repositories and support forums that were **fixed months ago**, which we then have to deal with. The maintainers of @termux work in their free time, majorly for free, to work on development and provide support and having to re-re-deal with old issues takes away the already limited time from current work and is not possible to continue doing. Play Store page of `termux-app` has been filled with bad reviews of *"broken app"*, even though its clearly mentioned on the page that app is not being updated, yet users don't read and still install and report issues.

- Asking people to pay for plugins when the `termux-app` at installation time is broken due to repository issues and has bugs is unethical.

- Old versions don't have proper logging/debugging and crash report support. Reporting bugs without logs or detailed info is not helpful in solving them.

- It's also easier for us to solve package related issues and provide custom functionality with app updates, which can't be done if users continue using old versions. For example, the [bintray shutdown](https://github.com/termux/termux-packages/wiki/Package-Management) causing package install/update failures for new Play Store users is/was not an issue for F-Droid users since it is being shipped with updated bootstrap and repo info, hence no reported issues from new F-Droid users.
</details>

##
There is currently a build of Termux available on Google Play for Android 11+ devices, with extensive adjustments in order to pass policy requirements there. This is under development and has missing functionality and bugs (see [here](https://github.com/termux-play-store/) for status updates) compared to the stable F-Droid build, which is why most users who can should still use F-Droid or GitHub build as mentioned above.

Currently, Google Play will try to update installations away from F-Droid ones. Updating will still fail as [sharedUserId](https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/manifest-element#uid) has been removed. A planned 0.118.1 F-Droid release will fix this by setting a higher version code than used for the PlayStore app. Meanwhile, to prevent Google Play from attempting to download and then fail to install the Google Play releases over existing installations, you can open the Termux apps pages on Google Play and then click on the 3 dots options button in the top right and then disable the Enable auto update toggle. However, the Termux apps updates will still show in the PlayStore app updates list.

If you want to help out with testing the Google Play build (or cannot install Termux from other sources), be aware that it's built from a separate repository (https://github.com/termux-play-store/) - be sure to report issues [there](https://github.com/termux-play-store/termux-issues/issues/new/choose), as any issues encountered might very well be specific to that repository.

## Uninstallation

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